African-American and Hispanic students are more likely to struggle
in college than are their white counterparts who earned the same grade
point average in high school, probably for reasons other than unequal
academic preparation, according to a report by the ACT testing
service.

Released last month, the study looks at students who received the
same GPA in high school, and to a lesser degree, equal composite scores
on the ACT college-entrance exam. It concludes that colleges and
universities have to make a special effort to retain black and Hispanic
students, if they want them to succeed.

One-third of teenage boys say they feel pressure to have sex,
compared with 23 percent of girls the same age, a report from the
Kaiser Family Foundation reveals.

Many teenagers and young adults are misinformed about the health
risks associated with unprotected sex, according to the report released
last month. For example, three-quarters of sexually active adolescents
engage in oral sex, but one-fifth of adolescents don't realize they can
contract sexually transmitted diseases that way.

—Darcia Harris Bowman

Condom Use

For More Info

Information on how to get the report, "Condom
Availability Programs in Massachusetts High Schools: Relationships
With Condom Use and Sexual Behavior," is available from the American Journal of Public Health. A
free
abstract is also provided.

A study published in the May issue of the American Journal of Public
Health suggests that teenagers at high schools where condoms are
available are no more likely to have sex—or to begin engaging in
it any earlier—than other students are.

The study is based on results from surveys of 4,166 students
attending 59 randomly chosen high schools in Massachusetts. Ten percent
of school districts in the state have put condom-availability programs
in place to encourage sexually active teenagers to use condoms to help
prevent sexually transmitted diseases as well as pregnancy.

Kindergarten Testing

Sixty-one percent of schools give an entrance or placement exam to
incoming kindergartners, according to a federal report.

Schools are more likely to use the test scores "to evaluate the
needs of children and to help guide instruction" than to determine
whether a child is ready to enter school, the report says.

Data for the report were collected in the Early Childhood
Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class, 1998-99, a project of the
National Center for Education Statistics.

—David J. Hoff

Early-Childhood Risk

Poverty, transience, lack of high-quality early care, and infant and
child mortality are among the factors that contribute to putting
children at risk of not performing at their full potential in school
before they even start kindergarten, a report concludes.

Many of those problems go unnoticed because so much of the
population in the United States is aging and does not have as much
contact with children as in earlier years, says the report, published
by the Washington-based Institute for Educational Leadership.

Still, it says, programs such as universal preschool and full- day
kindergarten can help better prepare children to succeed in school.

—Michelle Galley

Concerned Students

High school students are concerned about everything from the
cleanliness of school restrooms to the workloads and salaries of
teachers, according to a survey of more than 135,000 students in 14
states.

While school-related issues appear to be of chief concern to many
students, their worries extend to community and world problems as well,
says the preliminary study of Project 540, an initiative financed by
the Pew Charitable Trusts.

The project, initiated in 2002, was intended to provide an outlet
for students to speak up about issues that affect them. It features an
online "dialogue" among students at some 250 high schools.

The U.S. General Accounting Office has found that thousands of
parents are turning their children over to state and local officials in
the hope of finding improved mental-health treatment for the
youngsters.

A study published in April by the congressional watchdog agency
found that in 2001, parents in 19 states and 30 counties studied placed
12,700 children into the child-welfare or juvenile-justice system so
that they could receive mental- health services.

Limitations of both public and private health insurance, inadequate
supplies of services, and difficulties meeting eligibility rules
prompted many placements, the report says.

—Michelle R. Davis

Vol. 22, Issue 40, Page 10

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